Mine or torpedo guard for vessels.



w, H. BAKER. MINE 0R TOR PEDO GUARD FOR VESSELS."

APPLICALI'ION FlLED JUNE 10, 1915.

1 00,069. Patented Oct. 3, 1916 T all whore it may concern Specificationof Letters Patent.

winner: 5. BAKER, or MONTREAL, aunnnc, CANADA.

MINE OR TOBPEIDO GUARD FOR VESSELS.

Patented Got. a, rare.

; 7 Application filed June 10, 1915. Serial No. 33,295.

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. BAKER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica,

' and-I resident of: the city of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec andDominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMine or Torpedo Guards for Vessels, of which the following is a full,clear, andexact description. It!) This invention relates to improvementsin mine or torpedo-guards for vessels, and the object 'of the inventionis to provide a simple, inexpensive and practical device which may bemounted on a vessel, and which will form abarrier around the hull toguard the same from torpedoes or drifting 'ing a continuous A further.object is to provide a device which may be raised to inoperativeposition out of the water and close against the vessels sides when notin use.

The device consists essentially of a series of plates adjustably mountedon the vessel and adapted-to be positioned in the water partially orentirely. submerged, and formaround a vessel Suitable means areproplates.

vided for supporting and shifting the barrier plates and for relievingthe vessels hull of stresses incident to wave action on the Variousdevices such as torpedo havebeen devised nets, sweeps and the like,

for attachment to war and other vessels as a guard against torpedoes andmines. .Of

these devices, the most common and. practically the only one in use, isthe torpedo net. The disadvantage of the net is that it merely catchesand entangles the torpedo so that the same is not explo ed, but maysubsequently be brought against the vessels sides and exploded by wave.action or other forces, It

may also happen that a torpedo will pass entirely through the net.

'tireiy'or partially submerged, and unite to.

form a barrier practically all around the vessel, extending from thewater line a suit able distance downward to guard the s'lbs mergedportion of the hull. These plates are preferably provided with airchambers of sufilcient displacementto float the plates,"

barrier practically all so that when the latter are submerged, the only.stress on the arms and hull will be that "necessary to maintain theplates in position. When not in use, the plates may be raised closeagainst the vessels hull, to serve as additional armor plate.

In the drawings which illustrate the'invention:Figure 1 is a partialdiagrammatic cross section of a vessel showing the application of thedevice thereto. Fig. 2 is a. diagrammatic plan, showing the arrange-;ment of plates. Fig. .3 is. a fragmentary detail showing a slightlyalternative form of air chamber. Fig. l shows'the application of thedevice to a mine sweep.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 11 designates the hull of avessel, and

12 a series of plates of suitable strength and dimension, which may ifdesired be provided 76 with stifleningribs 13. This plate is connecbedto the hull by links or arms 14: pivot. ally connected to the plate andto brackets 15 carried by the hull, the. dimensions of the arms and thedisposition of the pivotal 80 points being such that the plate may beswung to the position shown in. dotted lines,

close against the hull and substantially out of water. The upper arm 14,which is preferably located above the water line, passes into the hulland is provided with a toothed quadrant 16 meshing with a pinion 17 tooscillate the arm in a vertical plane, and thus raise or lower theplate. To avoid the necessity of making a .Watertight joint where thearm passes intgrthe hull, a pocket 18 may be provided in which thequadrant 16 can sling. This arrangement will provide for' an absolutelywater tight construction, as it will be very easy to maintain watertight packing around the shaft 19 carrying the pinion 17 where it passesthrough the walls of the pocket. A' cable 20 may be attached to the freeend of the upper arm the hull. This device may-be used of itself toraise and lower the plate 12, or may act in c n unction with the parts16 and 17, or

the parts 16 and 17 may be used alone to raise and lower the plates.This upper edge of each plate is turned over butwardly upon itself toform an air chamber 23 having a suflicient displacement to support theplates 12 in the water and thus relieve the arms 1d and hull of theweight of the plate when the same is in its 14 and passed throughsuitable 10o pulleys 21 to awinding device 22 located in loweredposition, the arms serving merely to space the-plate away from the hull.Instead of forming the air chamber integral with the plate, the chambermay be separately formed, asindicated at 23' in Fig. 3, and secured tothe plate by straps 24. The idea of the buoyancy chamber is not limitedto the particular form of guard shown, but may be applied to an suitablesweeping device,

such as that indicated at 25 in Fig, -l-, and mounted at the bow of avessel for the purpose oi engaging mines or the like in the path of avessel.

As shown in the drawings, the plate extends somedistance below the pointof attachment of the lower arm .14, so as to extend a considerabledistance down into the ater and guard the bottom of the vessel.

have the effect of forming an armor platev along the water line when theplates were raised to inoperative position.

It is obvious that the precise form and arrangement of the plates andthe method of sl'llfmorting the same may be considerablv varied, asrequired, for different types 01: vessels, so that it must be understoodthat this invention contemplates all such changes and is not limited tothe precise form shown in the drawings and described.

The device when submerged substantially in equililnium, so that it willrise and .t'all easily in the water with the roll of the vessel, withoutthrowing any great stress on the hull. It, on the other hand, the deviceis slightly buoyant, and the arms are left free to oscillate, the plateswill remain substantially lined, with respect to the water level, whilethe vessel will roll between them. If, however, the plates are fixedwith respect to the vessel, they will have a considerable steadyingeffect. These plates when submerged will naturally reduce the speed ofthe moving vessel to some extent, but the amount ofreduction in speedneed not be excessive, as the plates will move edgewise in the water andoffer comparatively little re-' This feature dependssistance. The airchambers 23 and arms 14 will naturally be formed to move with a minimumof resistance through the water.

Any suitable means may be provided for controlling the raising andlowering of the plates, so that they may be operated singly or in groupsof, any desired number, orall at once. W' hen in their lowered position,the plates form an effective barrier around the vessel, and it struck bya torpedo form sufiicient resistance to explode the torpedo. It isobvious that the plate struck and possibly adjoining plates Will bedestroyed, but the explosion will have been caused at suflicientdistance to prevent a rupture of the hull. Plates thus destroyed may bereadily replaced.

In Fig. 1, a'toothed rack 16 is shown pivoted to the upper arm 14, andpassing into the vessel some distance above the water line, where itmeshes with a pinion 17 carri d on a. shaft 19".. This rack may be usedlet alone to replace the quadrant 16 or as an auxiliary to the quadrantfor the same purpose as the cable 20. Apertures 27 may be formed in theplate 13 in position to register with the port holes when the plate israised against the vessels side. These apertures will naturally be sosmall that they will not permit the passage of a torpedo or mine whenthe plate is in operative position.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, a protective memberadjustably secured to a vessel, and an armored float attached to saidguard and maintaining the same approximately in equilibrium while in thewater.

In a device of the character described, the combination with a vessel,of a series of apertured plates, links pivotally connected to the vesselandto the plates, rack and pinion mechanism connected to the links forraising and lowering the plates, means independent of said rack andpinion mechanism for supporting the plates in lowered position, theaperturesol' said plates being positioned to register with port holes ofthe vessel. during raised position of the racks.

In witness whereof, l/have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of twoWitnesses.

WILLIAM H. BAKER.

Witnesses I S. R. W. ALLEN, G. M. MORELAND.

